Grandmothers are an Exceptional Exception…

Kyle and I often discuss how we want to raise this little squatter that’s hanging out inside my uterus. Topics like discipline, dealing with temper tantrums, and limiting processed sugar and television have all come up. We’d like to have routine and order while still providing guidance and unconditional love.

There’s one other topic that we’ve agreed on, Grandmothers. I only had one grandmother growing up. And she was the best. I loved going to grandmas. She made me noodles and fried rice. And she didn’t make me eat the peas or pork either. She hung up my ugly pot holders all over her little tiny kitchen. Grandma let me get away with things that were on my mom’s “no list”. Like getting to go to bed in front of the TV.

Lucy is going to have two really awesome grandmothers. And Kyle and I have already decided; grandmothers get a free pass. A free pass to do whatever they like… Even if it is a second scoop of ice cream or extra sugar on her mochi.

Hopefully, they just don't do anything like these grandparents:
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/01/11488273-drunken-grandparents-use-suv-to-tow-girl-in-toy-car-deputies-say?lite

Finishing What you Start...

I am ready to be done being pregnant. 

I want to be able to bend over, tie my shoes and not gasp for air as I stand back up.

I want to be able to sleep on my stomach (though never in my life have I been a stomach sleeper, I'd still like to give it a try).

I want to be able to drink a caffeinated sugary beverage and not have to worry about my stomach jumping for the next 2 hours.

I want to be able to do a sit up and not have to roll from side to side to get out of bed in the morning. 

I want a glass of wine (or maybe two).

I was reading through one of the many magazines that they handed out during our child-birth class. There was an article on those who do not deliver early (which will be me). The article made the comparison to finishing a marathon. Not to downplay those who delivered their babies prior to 40 weeks, but the article said that quitting at 38 or 39 weeks would be like not running the last mile or half a mile when running a marathon. 

So it looks like Lucy wants to make sure I finish this endeavor; every last step of it.

A May Baby...

No symptoms or signs at all this weekend. Not even a quick false contraction to get my hopes up. It doesn't feel like she's dropping any; if anything I think that she's crawling even further up back inside. It looks like little Lucy is going to be a May baby. (Just as long as she's not a June-baby, I think I'll be alright). 

I have a doctors appointment this Thursday,  my 40 week checkup. I've decided that baby or no baby, that Thursday's going to be my last day of work until I go back in July. Happy last 4 days of work to me. I haven't had more than a week off of work since our wedding/honeymoon. And a month of not working? That dates back to 2004. Looking forward to some "time off".

One Week til May 4th

I had extra vacation days to use up before my maternity leave. I kept pushing them back, because something always seemed to come up at work. Well, I finally put my foot down and took off last Friday and Monday. I cleaned the house, washed the floors, and made a big dent in my “to-do” list. Kyle asked if I had gotten that “nesting” instinct. Unfortunately, it was just a “wow, I’m bored with nothing better to do” instinct. I wish I had the desire to clean and tidy up my home, but nope, this was a long overdue and forced scrubbing.

After hand washing the kitchen floor, our 11 year old golden retriever, Savannah decided to poop right in the middle of it. I'm not sure what she was trying to tell me or what signal she was sending, but it allowed me the opportunity to wash the floor twice.

I sometimes wonder what our dogs do when we’re not around. So, I let them outside and spied on them from my bedroom window. This is a short clip into the lives of Savannah and Reggie, when they think no one’s watching. As you might notice, they're two very different dogs.

Only 1 week until Lucy's due date. For a while I thought she'd be early. Then I thought she'd show up right on her due date at noon. After yesterday's dr. appointment, I'm now thinking that she'll have to be forced out a week and a half after her due date. No effacement and zero dilation. As my mother-in-law said, Lucy must just feel happy and safe inside. (Or maybe she's afraid of that crazy dog in the video).

Oh by the way, for you foodies, Lucy's the size of a wintermelon. I've never had one before, and after wikipedia-ing it, I'm not really in a hurry to try one.

My Little Pumpkin... 38 weeks

Little Lucy is approximately the size of a pumpkin.

I haven't had any symptoms or signs of labor. If it wasn't for this ridiculously large stomach, I would forget that I was pregnant. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. Nothing exciting other than a whole lot of waiting to see the doctor. My blood pressure was up to 95/70 (which is still low for the average person) and Lucy's heart beat "sounded good". Which means that we'll just continue to wait until she's ready to come. I go back again next week to check her status.

She's still very active and I'm starting to learn how to ignore her hiccups. I used to love baby hiccups, now they just drive me nuts!

I realized that I might be a mother this mother's day. Kyle made the comparison to going on a first date a few days before Valentine's Day. 

Not much else going on in the Ring house.

37 weeks

I feared that one day, this fruit would come… Little Lucy Ring is the size of watermelon. Yowsers! At my appointment on Tuesday, they estimated that she weighs 6 pounds and 12 ounces. That puts her in the 58 percentile. She received 8 out of 8 for the portion of the biophysical profile test that she completed. They did note that she was a little low on amniotic fluid. We skipped the non-stress test part of it. The doctor was behind, and she had aced all of the other tests.

We passed our childbirth course. It was nice taking the 6 week class. At the review, I was amazed of how much I had learned. I think we’re ready for this whole baby pushing business. Which, we did find out that Lucy has turned and is head down.

22 more days until her due date. I have another doctor’s appointment next Thursday. It should be just a quick check up to make sure we’re still feeling ok. I’ve actually been feeling a lot better than I expected to be feeling at this point. Sometimes my lower back will be a little sore, but nothing too bad. I’m starting to find bending down to tie my shoes sort of difficult too.

By the way, we received this in the mail:

 

Barbara (Christine's mother-in-law) knitted Lucy a sweater, socks,  and hat. These may be the most adorable things I've ever seen. I can't wait until she's big enough to rock out in this!

Easter 2012

On Saturday we went to Carmel to spend time with Kyle's family and to check out his parents new house. They were able to work with the builders and have it built exactly the way they wanted. I love the smell and feel of a new house... It's even nicer than the smell of a new car :)

On Sunday morning, Kyle and I got up early and made an asparagus, Canadian bacon and gouda quiche. We brought it over to my parents and spent Easter with my family. The Easter Bunny had left eggs in the backyard for Yoshi and Franny.

They enjoyed opening the eggs to see all the stuff inside. Franny liked the balloons and lizards, but Yoshi's favorite was definitely the "chalk-kal-lit"

After that we dyed Easter eggs and played games. I can't wait until Lucy's here next Easter and can join in on the fun!

I'll leave you with my 36 weeks and 3 days photos,

Michelle

36 weeks

Little Lucy is the size of a coconut...

Reminds me of one of my favorite Sesame Street songs...

"Shimi shimi, coconut, shimi shimi pie

Grandma, grandma sick in bed
Called the doctor and the doctor and the doctor said
Let's get the rhythm of the head, ding dong"

We toured the hospital on Tuesday. We were able to see all of the different rooms that we might be in.  Hopefully we'll never have to use the c-section room or the NICU. 

Pretty much, we'll wait until I start having contractions that are 5 minutes apart. Then we'll go to the hospital, check in and get checked out in the pre-labor room. Once I'm "ready" we'll go to the labor room, and have Lucy. After Lucy is born, Kyle, Lucy and I will be in that room for about another 2-3 hours, while they bathe her and check all her stats. After that we'll move to the postpartum room, which we'll be in for about 48 hours. Hopefully after that, they'll run some last tests on Lucy, and we'll be released to go home.

I have a doctors appointment on Tuesday. They'll run a non stress test and do an ultrasound to check for all those things doctors check for before delivery :)

I can't believe that Lucy will be here in less than a month (hopefully).

I did a little research on when babies are born in relation to their due date. A baby who makes it to 35 weeks, has the following percentages:

35 weeks: 1.2%

36 weeks: 3.3%

37 weeks: 7.2%

38 weeks: 12.9%

39 weeks: 26.6%

40 weeks: 30.6%

41 weeks: 15.8%

42 weeks: 2.3%

43 weeks: 0.2% 

Just a reminder of everyone's birth date guesses:

Maureen:  April 24th @ 7:19pm

Hannah: April 27 @ 6:12am

David Ring:  April 28th @ 9:15 am

Jason: April 29 @ 11:07 pm

Me: April 30th @ noon

Nana: May 1st @ 10:00am

Kyle: May 2 @ 10:45 a.m

Christine Lynn: May 3rd @ 130am

Draves: May 3rd @ 8:05 am

Kels: May 5th @ 515PM

Auntie Donna: May 6

Theresa: May 8th

Nuna: May 11th @ 5:00pm

Papa Ring: May 12 @ 8:47 A.M

I'm surprised no one picked her actual due date, May 4th

Another Wonderful Baby Shower

Lucy is going to be one lucky baby. She's going to born into a plethora of wonderful aunties, great-aunties, grandmas and more! 

My sister in law planned a shower for Saturday. It was a nice brunch with some of my favorite people. She had everyone write down a favorite memory that they had with their mom and put all the memories in a flip-photo book. I got chills while reading through them! I can't wait for Lucy and I to create such sentimental memories of our own! 

The shower was at Creation Cafe and overlooked the canal in downtown Indianapolis. Here are some pictures from the shower:

 

  

We received such nice gifts. I think we're all ready for Lucy. Her once-empty nursery feels full of everything she's going to need. I can't wait to dress her in the wardrobe of clothes from my ever so fashionable friend Hannah :) 

Thank you to everyone who came into town for the shower! And thanks Kels for all the planning! Mwah!

34 weeks

Little Lucy is now 34 weeks. Yep, the size of a durian. I won't even comment about this weeks fruit/veggie obscureness. All I know is that I'm thankful that she's a lot smoother than that prickly kooshball!

My bump keeps growing. Every morning I wake up and my belly feels harder, and every night it becomes harder to get any sleep. That's probably because I've got almost a 5 pounds real moving person in there.

Lucy is a super super super active baby.  The doctor warned me, to let him know if there's any decrease in her movement, or if I don't feel her move for a long period of time. I had to ask, "is there such thing as too much movement?" because I don't think she ever stops moving!

And here's yesterday's photo of my bump (or bulge)...

Only about 6 weeks left...

33 Weeks

Lucy and I are at 33 weeks. That means we've reached the 50 day countdown.

The bump has her at the size of a honeydew. 

Not sure why I've gained 35 pounds, when she only accounts for about 5 pounds... oh well. 

We had our 33 week check up this morning. Nothing new. Lucy has flipped into the head down position (this is a good thing). I go back in 2 weeks.

I'll end this with a joke that I heard yesterday: Why doesn't anyone play poker in Africa??

Because there are too many cheetahs.

Poor Man's March = Epic Fail and 32 week milestone

Well... we decided that we’re not going to buy an ipad 2. That’s because we bought a Nissan Xterra instead.

It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles as the Xterra we were originally looking at, but this one was much closer to our budget. We pick it up on Saturday (we'll post pictures this weekend). After months of looking, we can finally check “buy a new car” off our to-do list. We’ll add “make car payment” to the list in its place. Those few months of driving free were fun.

 

In other news, Lucy is the size of another type of squash, weighing in at 3 pounds. My sister has been waiting for today. Some days she works in the NICU and terms babies "feeder babies" once they make it to 32 weeks. Meaning that even if Lucy were born now, she'd most likely only need to be fed to build up body mass, and probably wouldn't need major surgeries to be kept alive.

Super excited to pick up our new ride this weekend.

We'll continue to practice Poor Mans March, despite this one minor setback...

Day 222

Either I've got it good or some pregnant women complain... A LOT. 

Kyle and I attended our first childbirth class at Union Hospital last night. The instructor started by having the women list their symptoms, and the list went on, and on, and on...
and on...
and on. Luckily Lucy hasn't been giving me too much trouble. The class was informative and goes on for 6 more Tuesdays (only 5 more for Kyle, since he will probably skip the breast feeding class). The instructor had a fake baby that was the size of a baby born at 28-30 weeks, he was way too tiny. We decided that Lucy needs to cook for at least another 7 or 8 weeks. I telepathically sent her the memo.

I've been feeling much better and am finally over whatever it was that I had the last few weeks.

Poor Man's March has been... trying. I've used up one fast food credit. I also cheated this morning and stopped at Starbucks. Then I convinced Kyle to stop too, so I didn't feel so bad. We had to buy the dogs food (I think they might be our  largest expense after restaurants!) We've done well at cooking at home, using up items in our pantry/freezer and eating left overs. I've been tempted to buy some things, but I've banked them in the back of my head as "things to buy on April 1st". Hopefully by April 1st I'll have either forgotten about them or realized that we don't really need them.

Tonight we're going to go to Indy to look at a few Nissan Xterras. Every time we find a car we like, it sells before we can even go look at it. This time we're not dilly dallying around. Hopefully we find something we like at a reasonable price.

31 weeks

Today we kick off Poor Man's March.

Today little Lucy is also the size of a pineapple... yikes!

 

Today's unnecessary comment from a guy at work "Wow, you sure you don't have twins or triplets in there?"

Today's other unnecessary comment from a guy at work "How much have you gained? 30 pounds? It looks like a lot more than that"

Today Lucy and I have to go to the doctor again. That means 90 minutes of waiting and 5 minutes of actually seeing the doctor. I'll be sure to bring my kindle!

30 weeks

Last weekend was awesome. My sister threw a coed baby shower for us at the abode of my cousin Lisa and Doug in Chicago. There was a great turn out, and it was so nice to see everyone. We played a fun game, and ate some great food. Instead of a card my sister had requested that people bring a book and sign their names on the inside. I LOVED THIS! Kyle and I love reading through the books that everyone had picked. Some had picked their childhood favorite, and others picked a book that they enjoy reading to their young loved ones. 

On Sunday, we went on two brewery tours. It was a great way to spend a beautiful Sunday in Chicago. Like a good attendee I drank all my samples :)

 OK, well maybe I got a little bit of help.

Lucy is at 30 weeks. So only 10 weeks left to go. I'm really getting excited to meet her. She is now the size of an English cucumber. I can constantly feel her kicks and movements. I haven't been feeling well... at all. The doctor thinks it's because of my low blood sugar and super low blood pressure. Add that to a cold and sore throat. I hate to complain, since I had it so easy the first 6 months. The doctor wants to see me weekly and run blood work until I start to feel better, and at least until the chest pains and nausea/vomiting goes away. Until then, Kyle will have to stay on pregnant wife duty :)

29 weeks

Lucy and I are at 29 out of 40 weeks. With how crummy I've been feeling, I'm glad that we're about 75% of the way done. 

And the obscure veggie of the week is...

The ever so well known acorn squash. I cooked with acorn squash once, it was terrible. But that probably had something to do with my lack of cooking talent, and my need to make substitutions and estimations on the fly.

Today I'm going to go down to Bloomington to look at a Jeep Liberty. After that I'll be hanging out with Miss Franny. She's going to stay over at Auntie Chel and Kyle's house tonight. It's a good thing too, since we have a bear on the loose in our home, and we will need someone to assist us on a good bear hunt :) I'll keep you posted on whether or not we catch him.

Chicago this weekend with some awesome friends and family. Super excited!

Waiting for Lucy

Remember this post?

What's in a name...

Well, I think we're ready to handle a few vomity faces (at least we keep telling ourselves that we're prepared to). We've chosen a name for little Ringlet... 

Lucy Ring. (I know, I know, "it has a nice 'ring' to it"). We had a few other names picked out, and one morning, out of the middle of nowhere, I told Kyle "I think she feels like a Lucy", and it stuck. Surprisingly, we randomly found a name that we both love.

Kyle painted purple letters, wrapped them with green yarn and hung them over her crib. So it's official. No changing it now. So don't ask. Those letters were too hard get hung up. (My slightly OCD husband had to make sure that they were perfectly centered and spaced above the crib).

**For those who are curious, yes, we finally agreed on a middle name too. But we're keeping that one a secret until her arrival**

Here are some more pictures of our just about finished nursery. I doubt her closet will always stay this neat and organized.

 

My mom refinished my grandmothers baby dresser and finished it off with some baby animal knobs. It looks a-maz-ing!

Kyle and I enjoy sitting in this rocking chair and admiring our work.

28 weeks

Little Ringlet is 28 weeks. Measuring in at roughly the size of a Chinese Cabbage (about 14 inches from head to toe).

It looks like from here on out, we'll be learning more about obscure fruits and vegetables than Ringlet's actual measurements.

Thank you for everyone's wonderful comments on my last post. Glad to know that someone is actually reading this :)

27w4d check-up

Little Ringlet is almost 28 weeks.

Her doctor’s appt yesterday went ok. She’s in the breach position, so they were able to get some nice photos of her teenie tiny face. Hopefully she’ll move out of that position in the next couple of weeks.

She weighs over 2 pounds and is in the 45-50 percentile. Her length measured in at 28 weeks. The ultrasound tech called her our little “over-achiever”. You could see her little diaphragm moving up and down, meaning that she’s already practicing her breathing.

I found out that I anti-failed the Glucose Challenge Test.

How the test works: A nurse checks your blood sugar, then you drink a whole bunch of sugary orange drink, wait an hour, and the nurse checks your blood sugar again.

The range is for the second test should be between 80-130, with anything over 130 being an F. Well, mine came back in the 60’s which means that my blood sugar level actually dropped. I figured that was an “A+” but the dr. started using big words like “hypoglycemia” and some other acronyms that I can’t remember; then he said, “eat more small meals”. I understood that part, and am starting today.

He gave me a prescription for my heartburn. However if my chest pains don’t go away we’ll have to do an “EKG” (what is with these doctors and their acronyms, they’re worse than a 14 year old girls text message).

He wasn’t sure why my left eye keeps twitching, but I googled it, and it means good fortune is on it’s way. So I’m going to just stick with that.

Here are a few photos of little Ringlet:

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday from me and my ever-growing, 27 weeks and 3 days belly.

Only 87 more days to go!